N.J.'s Booker, Menendez join Senate filibuster for gun safety laws

WASHINGTON -- Both of New Jersey's Democratic U.S. senators joined their colleagues Wednesday to block Senate action on legislation Wednesday in an effort to force the Republican majority to bring up gun safety legislation in the wake of Sunday's mass killings in Orlando, Fla.

U.S. Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) joined Sen. Christopher Murphy (D-Conn.) at the beginning of the day as the Senate began debate on legislation to fund the Justice Department and other federal agencies for the 12 months beginning Oct. 1. Murphy's home state includes Newtown, where 20 elementary school students and six adults were gunned down in 2012.

The lawmakers sought to bring to the floor legislation that would ban someone on the government's terrorist watch list from purchasing guns. Such individuals already cannot fly. Senate Republicans defeated similar legislation last year after the terrorist attack in San Bernardino, Calif.

The Senate debate followed the biggest mass killing in U.S. history, when 49 people were gunned down at a gay nightclub on Sunday by an individual who proclaimed his allegiance to the Islamic State.

"We just can't go on with business as usual in this body at a time where there is such continued grievous threat and vulnerability to our country," Booker said on the Senate floor.

U.S. Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) later joined the debate.

"I'm tired of saying that that our hearts and prayers go out to the families of those who lost a loved one," Menendez said on the Senate floor. "We need more than a vigil and a bouquet. We need action. We need common sense gun safety laws."

The presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Donald Trump, said he would discuss the issue with the National Rifle Association, the powerful gun rights lobby that has so far opposed any legislation. The NRA has endorsed Trump.

Former U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, the presumptive Democratic nominee, has called it "absurd" that "people can't board planes with full bottles of shampoo - but people being watched by the FBI for suspected terrorist links can buy a gun with no questions asked. "

Trump initially responded to the attacks by accusing Clinton of wanting to abolish the Second Amendment, even as her campaign website acknowledges, "Gun ownership is part of the fabric of many law-abiding communities."

White House spokesman Josh Earnest on Wednesday reiterated President Barack Obama's support for legislation banning those on the terrorist watch list from buying a gun.

"If it's too dangerous for you to board an airplane, it's too dangerous for you to buy a gun," Earnest said.

In the House, all six New Jersey Democrats have signed a petition to force a vote on legislation to prevent individuals on the terrorist watch list from buying weapons. None of the six Republicans in the state delegation have joined the effort.